According to
Tom Robbins:
"Three of the four
elements are shared by all creatures, but
fire was a
gift to
humans alone.
Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immediate excrutiation. Every
smoker is an
embodiment of
Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it on back home. We smoke to capture the
power of the
sun, to pacify
Hell, to identify with the
primordial spark, to feed on the
marrow of the
volcano. It's not the
tobacco we're after but the
fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the
fire dance, a
ritual as ancient as
lightning."
Still Life With Woodpecker.
Also, cigarettes serve as effective punctuation in several ways. A cigarette can be...
...a period: "I'll go right after this cigarette . . .".
...a <p>: A cigarette break during a long day at work does wonders for clearing the mind of frustration, confusion, etc; it gives you breathing room (pun very much intended). Cigarettes are particularly effective to this end, because to take a cigarette break, one usually has to go somewhere other than where s/he is working. This is a good thing.
...a comma or semicolon: When telling a story, a drag off a cigarette tends to fit perfectly into the pause that goes with a comma or semicolon.
...a tilda: Well, maybe this one's a bit of a stretch, but ~'s do look like smoke. heh heh heh.